GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Aug. 8 -- Around 6,000 Senior High School (SHS) students here have received free career guidance and other related education services as part of the three-day Gensan Edukasyon Fair 2017.
The fair, which opened at the KCC Mall Convention Center on Monday, is part of a national campaign for SHS spearheaded by innovative social enterprise site Edukasyon.ph and supported by the Department of Education (DepEd).
Annalie Edday, Edukasyon.ph partnerships manager, said Tuesday the initiative aims to guide SHS students in the city in choosing their future careers, colleges and universities, and enable them to access possible scholarship opportunities.
Through a series of interactive lectures and exhibits, she said they expect to provide students with a better perspective of the educational tracks that best fits their talents and interest as well as career and business opportunities.
During the opening sessions, she said students were able to interact with top “entrepreneurs, innovators and creative thinkers” who succeeded in their chosen careers.
These included former Sarangani governor Miguel Rene Dominguez, who is now vice president of the Saragani Agricultural Company Inc., and Gino Canlas, who serves as the application/web specialist and growth manager of Edukasyon.ph.
She said Dominguez challenged students to choose careers that will not only benefit them or their families but local communities as well.
Canlas shared how he started his online business at age 19 and retired upon reaching 30 after earning around P200 million in various ventures.
“The students were able to talk to them and asked some questions about their experiences,” Edday said.
For the next two days of the fair, she said participating students will have a “full immersion” to the Edukasyon.ph portal.
She said they will get full access at a list of courses offered by colleges and universities in the country and a list of around 4,000 scholarship offers.
As of Tuesday morning, she said some 1,609 students have already registered with their website and 1,410 of them have made inquiries.
The DepEd city division has listed a total of 18,273 SHS students in various public and private schools in the city.
Edday said registered users will get automatic notifications through their Facebook newsfeeds regarding calls for scholarship applications and other related information.
At the end of the end of the fair, she said they expect the participating students to have a full understanding of the tracks and strands that are available and they could pursue.
“We will sustain our interaction with them through our website and provide them with career guidance tips through online resources,” she said.
In the next two months, Edday said they will hold similar fairs in the cities of Davao, Zamboanga and Tagum.
Aside from DepEd, the initiative is supported by the city government, Commission on Higher Education, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Labor and Employment, Smart Communication, Alsons Power Group, RD Foundation, KCC Veranza, PLDT and various institutions.
Edukasyon.ph is a social enterprise in the education technology sector, with a mission of democratizing access to higher education and helping students make better-informed choices that will allow them to achieve their dream career.
Its website is considered as among the top resource for students in the Philippines looking for higher education opportunities locally and abroad.(PNA)
